The Grenada gazette., 1887-10-08
WoIAN'S DEPARTMENT.
v,omsM A. EXECUTIVES


WOMEN ~ EXECUTIVES.
vAss history sAews = 70 weass nav
ing Administrative Asalifv.
l have been much impressed. In read
ing historical studies Of nations with
which we are little acquainted. at the
frequency with which l came across
instances Of high administrative sbil-
ity ON the part Of women. shown un-
dor circumstances where we have little
reason to look for 1t. recently stum-
blsd upon an instance in the history o.
China at the present time.
Some fourteen years ago. tho Em-
psror Tung Chi died without issue. and
q council Of Princes chose the present
Emperor, Kwang Hsu, q child three
years Of age, as his successor. The
management Of the empire during his
minority passed into the hands OF two
Expresses dowager-the mother and
aunt, respectively. Of the deceased
monarch. The two sisters. as CO.
regents, carried on the Government
with unusual vigor and success till
1881, when one Of them, the empress
of the Eastern Palace" died, leaving
the whole power in tho hands Of her
sister, Tzu Hsi, Empress Of the West
ern Palace" Now the instances
would be rare in which the absolute
power over q vast empire could DO
shared equally between two men, with
out harm to the efficiency Of the Gov
ernment. History shows that double
rulerships. as well as triumvirantes, are
apt to prove disastrous in their conse-
quences, and it is evidence Of much un.
selfishness as well as ability upon the
part of these ladies, that their joint
rule should be successful.
But the survivors, reign has been
even more distinguished, and I read in
General Wilson's recent work on
China that ''it is asserted by the best
informed foreigners in Pekin that she
has proved herself to be the ablest
ruler of China since the days Of Kien.
lung, whose reign was contempora-
neous with the life of George Washing
ton. She is fifty-three years Of age,
and is said to give the closest personal
attention to public business. She has
never been seen by foreign official,
and, so far as is known, takes no mo-.
tice or account of their doings Yet
she is supposed to be aliberal, or to in.
cline toward liberalism and progress
in her ideas. She has seen the entire
country restored to peace and compar-
ative prosperity under her rule, and her
dominion, at the surrender Of it to her
ward, on the 9th of February. 1887,
was undisputcd to the very outermost
limits of the empire,
And yet the women Of China are
cut off from educational advantages
equal to those Of men. they are kept in
Oriental seclusion from early youth,
and less ought to be expected Of them
than of men. Yet the experince of
China seems to be the same as that Of
other countries In few cases where
women have been invested with adj
functions, they have, as a
rule, been eminently successful.
/ have read Of late in several
articles written by anti-sufragists,
arguments drawn from the supposed
incapacity of the female mind for tho
higher kinds Of intellectual activity.
1t is repeated ad nauseam, that women
have never originated any great
intellectual movement, have never
written any epic or dramatic MASTER
pieces, etc. Now, if this were true.
it might furnish an argument (though
a very poor one) for passing a law
forbidding all women from writing
epic or dramatic poetry and originat-
ing great intellectual movements; but
it would not seem to be good argu-
mcnt for excluding her from admins
trative duties, which are fields Of USE
fulness, for which she has shown a
special aptitude wherever she has
been tried; yet, these are the only
domains from which she is excluded
to-day by the inconsistency of legis-
lation framed wholly by the other sex.
William D. Foulke, in Woman's y0yr.
nal
Her Husband Made q Mistake.